Jury selected in Tipler’s trial for attempted murder

Published: Monday, April 29, 2013 at 05:14 PM.

A jury was selected Monday to try disbarred local attorney James “Harvey” Tipler on charges of attempting to hire someone to kill Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar.

Tipler, 61, was incarcerated at the Okaloosa County Jail, authorities say, when he hatched his plan to kill Edgar, who had pursued him since 2008 and had him arrested three times on racketeering charges between 2009 and 2011.

A plot to hire a hit man unraveled when Tipler tried to enlist the help of another disgraced Okaloosa County attorney, according to an affidavit filed at the time of Tipler’s Aug. 22, 2012, arrest on three counts of attempted murder.

R. Scott Whitehead, 41, who last October pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge of his own, told authorities that Tipler had approached him in July of 2012 seeking his help in arranging a murder for hire.

Tipler had allegedly concocted the plan to kill Edgar and discussed it with a couple of other inmates months before Whitehead, who has faced a number of alcohol-related charges in recent years, was booked on a charge of driving with a suspended license.

Tipler confided to Whitehead, whom Edgar had also had arrested for racketeering, that he’d found two men willing to kill the prosecutor, the affidavit said.

He wanted Whitehead to borrow $10,000 from his mother to have Edgar killed, it said, and promised to reimburse his half of the cost of hiring the hit man.

According to the affidavit, Tipler enlisted a former cell mate, Dion Lowe, to secure a hit man to kill Edgar, and Lowe told him a person he knew in Atlanta would do the job for $10,000.

Authorities located a letter sent by Tipler that they say shows his intent to carry out the hit.

Undercover officers apparently arranged a $1,500 payment to Lowe who, when confronted, told investigators he never intended to assist Tipler in the murder-for-hire plot but was simply “blowing smoke.”

State Attorney Bill Eddins, who will work with Assistant State Attorney Bobby Elmore in trying the case against Tipler, said the defendant actually faces three counts of attempted murder.

The first was filed for his effort to solicit Whitehead’s involvement in the hit, the second for bringing Lowe into the scheme and the third for conversations he had with a man named Wallace Morris.

Whitehead, Lowe and Morris are scheduled to testify during the Tipler trial, Eddins said, which should last about a week.

Following the trial, Whitehead will be sentenced for racketeering. Sentencing has been scheduled for May 13.

Tipler will go on trial for the racketeering charges he faces, along with charges of theft and practicing law without a license, on June 3.

County Judge T. Patterson Maney will preside over the Tipler trial. The county’s circuit court judges, who typically hear felony criminal cases, have all recused themselves.

A jury was selected Monday to try disbarred local attorney James “Harvey” Tipler on charges of attempting to hire someone to kill Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar.

Tipler, 61, was incarcerated at the Okaloosa County Jail, authorities say, when he hatched his plan to kill Edgar, who had pursued him since 2008 and had him arrested three times on racketeering charges between 2009 and 2011.

A plot to hire a hit man unraveled when Tipler tried to enlist the help of another disgraced Okaloosa County attorney, according to an affidavit filed at the time of Tipler’s Aug. 22, 2012, arrest on three counts of attempted murder.

R. Scott Whitehead, 41, who last October pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge of his own, told authorities that Tipler had approached him in July of 2012 seeking his help in arranging a murder for hire.

Tipler had allegedly concocted the plan to kill Edgar and discussed it with a couple of other inmates months before Whitehead, who has faced a number of alcohol-related charges in recent years, was booked on a charge of driving with a suspended license.

Tipler confided to Whitehead, whom Edgar had also had arrested for racketeering, that he’d found two men willing to kill the prosecutor, the affidavit said.

He wanted Whitehead to borrow $10,000 from his mother to have Edgar killed, it said, and promised to reimburse his half of the cost of hiring the hit man.

According to the affidavit, Tipler enlisted a former cell mate, Dion Lowe, to secure a hit man to kill Edgar, and Lowe told him a person he knew in Atlanta would do the job for $10,000.

Authorities located a letter sent by Tipler that they say shows his intent to carry out the hit.

Undercover officers apparently arranged a $1,500 payment to Lowe who, when confronted, told investigators he never intended to assist Tipler in the murder-for-hire plot but was simply “blowing smoke.”

State Attorney Bill Eddins, who will work with Assistant State Attorney Bobby Elmore in trying the case against Tipler, said the defendant actually faces three counts of attempted murder.

The first was filed for his effort to solicit Whitehead’s involvement in the hit, the second for bringing Lowe into the scheme and the third for conversations he had with a man named Wallace Morris.

Whitehead, Lowe and Morris are scheduled to testify during the Tipler trial, Eddins said, which should last about a week.

Following the trial, Whitehead will be sentenced for racketeering. Sentencing has been scheduled for May 13.

Tipler will go on trial for the racketeering charges he faces, along with charges of theft and practicing law without a license, on June 3.

County Judge T. Patterson Maney will preside over the Tipler trial. The county’s circuit court judges, who typically hear felony criminal cases, have all recused themselves.